Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 9th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Friday, May 13th OR 20th—Muffins with Mom

-Monday, May 16th—Delayed Start

-Friday, May 27th—Fun to Be Fit

-Mon., May 30th—No School—Memorial Day

-Thursday, June 2nd—Kindergarten Program

-Friday, June 3rd—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

-Saturday June 4th—Bike-a-thon

-Friday, June 10th—Track & Field Day (K-2) pm

-Friday, June 10th—Sophomore Carnival

   

ASSESSMENTS: 

As we prepare to wrap up the school year, we will be assessing student growth in many areas. This Friday we will be going back to the computer lab for our NWEA assessment in Reading and then again next Thursday for Math.  In two weeks, students will complete their Spring Dibels & Aimsweb benchmarking assessments, so keep practicing those nonsense words.  All month long we’ll be assessing for report cards. Please make sure you child is well-rested and remind them to ALWAYS do their best! :)

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about how children can be good citizens. They will learn how to listen, share, help others, respect one another, work together, and take turns.

Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—citizen, respect—Discuss ways your child can show good citizenship and respect for others at school and in the community.

· High-Frequency Words—play, has, & all— Write the words play, has, & all on paper. Then have your child write each word. Think of sentences about good citizens that include each word. Write down the sentences on paper.

· Category Words—farm animals—During the week, your child will read about farm animals. Reinforce farm animal names by singing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”

· Phonics—long I & ch—think of words that have the long I sound; also think of words that have the ch sound in them, at the beginning or end.

· Reading Folder—I’m working on completing a final running record with each student so that I can reassess their reading level.  This time of year students seem to grow by leaps and bounds with their reading—it’s amazing!  Keep reading at home and returning those reading folders.

WRITING: 

This week we will finish up our first informational book on chicks, ducks, and birds.  We will also be learning a new app called Story Buddy that allows us to write digital stories.  We’ll experiment with it this week as we write about caterpillars and butterflies.

MATH: 

This week we will focus on subtraction using various manipulatives to visualize this process.  We will also begin learning about the 'concept of time' and review our 3D solid shapes by building them out of toothpicks and marshmallows.  We might even be emailing a photo of our creations to our parents.

We are still collecting bottle caps as we try to fill our big jug—so keep sending them in!

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will continue our study of lifecycles as we focus on reading several informational texts related to tadpoles and frogs.  Our caterpillars are very big now and should be going into chrysalis form very soon.

Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 2nd

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wednesday, May 4th—3rd Grade Bookstore

-Friday, May 13th OR 20th—Muffins with Mom

-Monday, May 16th—Delayed Start

-Friday, May 27th—Fun to Be Fit

-Mon., May 30th—No School—Memorial Day

-Thursday, June 2nd—Kindergarten Program

-Friday, June 3rd—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

-Saturday June 4th—Bike-a-thon

-Friday, June 10th—Track & Field Day (K-2) pm

-Friday, June 10th—Sophomore Carnival

   

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Benito Ross-Perez. Benito likes to play with cars, go to school, and play with his baby brothers.  He likes reading books about trucks and he wants to learn his ABC’s & learn to draw this year. Congratulations to Benito on being Student of the Week!

3RD GRADE BOOKSTORE: 

The 3rd Graders (our BLAST Buddies) are putting together their annual bookstore as part of their economics unit. This Wednesday, May 4th we will be visiting their bookstore. They will have gently used books available to purchase from 25¢ - $2.00. Please send your child with a couple of dollars, so they can purchase a couple of books to bring home and add to their library:)

READING:

This week we will be reading stories about how children can help at home. Children will learn about taking responsibility for cleaning, caring for a pet, doing errands, and other chores.  Here are some activities that you can do at home to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—chores & contribute—Discuss different ways your child can help out at home. Create a list of jobs on a chore chart.

· Sightwords—help, too, & him—practice writing and reading these words by writing sentences that have them in them.

· Category Words—household furniture

· Phonics—long a/a with the magic e & sh—Invite your child to play a rhyming game with words that have the same long a sound and help them write them down into a list. Also practice writing words that begin and end with the sh sound.

WRITING: 

This week we will begin writing our first informational book on chicks, ducks, or birds using all of the research that we’ve gathered.  We will also be writing about why our moms are special to us.

MATH: 

This week we will begin collecting bottle caps—pop, juice, milk, etc. Please send in a Ziploc baggie with a few from your house for us to add to our collection.  We’ll also continue to work on addition, and begin learning about subtraction.  We will continue to practice counting & identifying numbers to 100.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

We’ve completed our Science Unit on Motion and will be taking an assessment this week.  Our next unit of study is on lifecycles. This week we will continue our study of eggs, chicks, ducks, and birds.  We will also review the lifecycle of a butterfly—our caterpillars arrived in the mail on Friday and are busy munching away:)

Please be sure to return your

Library book on or before Thursday!

Newsletter Updates for the Week of April 24th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Friday, April 29th—Kindergarten Round Up -  No School for Kindergarten

-Friday, May 13th OR 20th—Muffins with Mom

-Friday, May 27th—Fun to Be Fit

-Thursday, June 2nd—Kindergarten Program

-Friday, June 3rd—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

-Saturday June 4th—Bike-a-thon

-Friday, June 10th—Track & Field Day (K-2) pm

-Friday, June 10th—Sophomore Carnival

SCIENCE/TOYS FROM HOME: 

As you know, we have been learning about Motion in Science. We’ve been talking about different things that move and how they move. Please help your child pick out a toy from home that moves (push, pulls, rolls, spins, etc.) to bring to school on Thursday, April 28th.  We will use it for our Science lesson and then send it back home that same day.

READING: 

This week our class will be reading stories about the sky during daytime and nighttime. Children will identify the sun during the day and the moon at night.

Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—distance, recognize—Take your child outside during the day and at night. Help your child identify the sun, moon, clouds, stars, sunrise, and sunset.

· High-Frequency Words—Review—for, have, they, of, said, want, here, me, this, what, & him—Have your child think of a sentence using one of the words. Write the sentence, then read the sentence together.

· Category Words—opposites—Use gestures to act out words that are opposites, such as up/down, pull/push, open/close, and in/out.

· Phonics—Review—u, g, w, x, v, j, qu, & z—Search for objects with these letters. Play “I Spy,” and have your child guess the names of objects. For example, I spy something we use outside when it rains. It begins with u. (umbrella)

· Comprehension: problem and solution—Ask your child to imagine getting ready for school on a dark and cloudy day. Have your child circle the clothing and items for that type of weather.

· Take Home Reading Folders—Several students are very close to having 20 books read and will soon be receiving a subway certificate—keep up the great reading!

WRITING: 

This week we will share our small moment stories in the Author’s Chair before bringing them home to share with you.  We will also introduce our next unit of study—Informational Writing.  We will study some mentor texts to learn about the qualities and features of informational texts and begin researching and gathering information about Birds, Ducks, and Chicks for our first project next week.

MATH: 

This week we will learn about estimating and practice making ‘smart guesses.’  We will also continue to work on addition; adding numbers within 10.

   

Newsletter Updates for the Week of April 18th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Friday, April 22nd—Kindergarten Round Up—No School for Kindergarten

-Friday, April 29th—Kindergarten Round Up—No School for Kindergarten

-Friday, May 13th & 20th—Muffins with Mom

-Friday, May 27th—Fun to Be Fit

-Thursday, June 2nd—Kindergarten Program

-Friday, June 3rd—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

-Saturday June 4th—Bike-a-thon

-Friday, June 10th—Track & Field Day (K-2) pm

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Connor Gilde. 

Connor likes to eat oatmeal and spaghetti; his favorite movie is Home and his favorite book is Dinosaurs. He enjoys building things out of Legos and has a knack for drawing and creating. Two of Connor's goals are - learning to play football and soccer.  Congratulations to Connor on being Student of the Week!

FUN TO BE FIT SHIRTS: 

Mrs. Sluiter is collecting T-shirt orders for Fun to Be Fit; if you’d like to purchase a shirt, please send in your order form and payment ASAP. All students will be participating in the event, ordering a shirt is completely optional:)

READING: 

This week our class will be reading stories and learning about our country’s national symbols, monuments, and national parks, such as the American flag, the White House, and the Grand Canyon.

Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—country, travel—Talk about places in the United States where you have traveled or would like to visit with your child. Then invite your child to draw a picture of that place.

· High-Frequency Words—this, what, & his—Write the words on paper. Then have your child trace each word. Think of short sentences that include each word and write them down. Have your child point to each word and read the sentences.

· Category Words—ordinal numbers—Help your child point to and identify each image using ordinal numbers (see attached sheet).

· Phonics—Yy & Zz—Help your child think of words with the letter y and the letter z. Give clues to help your child identify the words. Make a list of the words, and then have your child underline the letter y or z in each one.

· Comprehension: sequence—Read the story and have your child tell what happened first, next, and last (see attached sheet).

MATH: 

This week we will work on leveling using a pan balance to determine which objects weight more, less, and equal.  We will also be taking surveys, collecting survey data, and representing our data on graphs.

WRITING: 

This week we will continue to work on our small moment stories as we edit, revise, choose a title, and create a ‘wow’ cover.  We will also complete a journal related to Earth Day.

 Please be sure to return your

Library book on or before Thursday!